The Seventy-Ninth Day: Florence Part 2, Venice Part 1.

Sunday, April 27th

We woke up and went on a tour of Florence, starting at the Piazzale Michelangelo, which is a famous square atop a hill with amazing panoramic views of the city. 

The Duomo is to the left. I've decided this is my favourite cathedral/church we've seen in Europe.
Chris's favourite is in Milan. You'll see it in a much later blog post. 

The Ponte Vecchio bridge, with the other bridges behind it. Imagine this view at sunset. 

I love how orange and warm everything is, with the misty mountains behind. 

Just lovely.

This is what happens when you ask random strangers to photograph you with a Canon 5D Mark II. No bueno.

Oh, there we go! Much better. 

The Piazzale Michelangelo is home to the second of three David sculptures we saw in Florence.
The first one was at the Palazzo Vecchio. The third one is coming up! 

We continued the tour throughout Florence. The tour guide was sweet to show us the building in which the original story of Pinocchio was written by Carlo Collodi in 1882. Just behind this door:

Walking through Florence, you see things that are so charming. Like this little lady walking her two dogs:

The tour then took us into the Duomo!! I was so excited! 

In the photo above, the tall skinny building to the right is the Baptistry. On it's doors (known as the Gates of Paradise) are fitted with golden plates depicting various scenes from the Old Testament, and are very impressive.  

Gorgeous mosaic floors inside the Cathedral. 

The inside of the dome is painted with the most amazing fresco of The Last Judgement. I could sit and look at it for hours. Photos don't do it justice. You need to see this thing in person.

After leaving the Duomo, we went to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see the REAL David! They didn't allow photography inside the building, which was probably for the best, as I was able to be "in the moment" and not obsessing about getting the perfect shot.

This is from Google. ;)

The tour guide was such a story-teller, and gave a beautiful interpretation of why people today still have such a strong connection with the David. I'll likely slaughter the telling, but here goes:

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The David is fundamentally human. People from all nations, ages, and all walks of life look up to him each day, and connect with him. But he's also absolutely breath-taking, and he makes the huge sea of tourists feel a bit unfit to be there. People are puny. You get a sense of how small you are as you approach the altar, realizing just how mortal and finite human life is. 

Michelangelo's David is based on the bible story of David and Goliath. David was a small Israelite shepherd boy of about 13 years old, who was chosen to defend his people against the barbaric giant Goliath. Armed with only a sling and stone, he takes down the huge enemy and saves his people. 

However, looking at Michelangelo's sculpture, this is no 13 year old boy. Michelangelo innovatively chose to sculpt David not at the moment of victory, as most artists did, but moments prior to battle. In that brief instance between conscious choice and conscious action. The moment he made his choice and committed to himself and God to act upon his decision. The moment he took his destiny into his own hands and became a man. 

The secret to David's appeal is that in his story, we see ourselves. All our shortcomings and weaknesses, sins and mistakes, projected onto this small shepherd boy. But in the sculpture, we see our shortcomings being overpowered by courage, strength, bravery and commitment. Looking into the David's eyes, we're inspired to do better, to be better. To take control of our lives and become the people we were meant to be.

___________________

Awww. (Sorry for waxing a bit poetic and nonsensically-day-dreamy. But when someone says all this to you the moment before you look at this statue in real life, let me tell you. That's some pretty powerful stuff. Makes you think differently about the choices you make, and how you act upon them.)

Anyhow. After Florence, we took a train to Venice. VENICE GUYS! It's beautiful and I love it there so much. I would live in Venice if I could. 

We got to the place we were staying and it was adorable.  Look at it.

If this isn't the most picturesque Venetian building you've ever seen, I don't know what is. And it's from the 1400s, or something ridiculous. The owner was telling us about the building. The mosaic floors inside is all the original flooring, and if I remember right, the doors are original too! Amazing. 

Our room was real cozy and had GREAT views down the canals.

The view from the bedroom window. Hey gondolier, how ya doin?

We went on a walk around town to see the sights and grab some food. Everything about this place is just so picturesque.

In one of the squares close to our place, we saw this wonky building:

Go home, building. You're drunk. You can't even stand up straight. 

Ha. I think I'm funny.  Stay tuned for more Venice, and Milan, Paris, and EURODISNEY! You know, when I get around to it. Then I'll blog about our second go-'round in London, if you're lucky. 

Cheers!

Kami & Chris, The Pseudo-Londoners